SCHIODTE AND MEINERT 851 
Serolis as well as of Cymothoa and Anilocra, without any 
warning that so strange a characteristic does not neces- 
sarily or even probably appertain to all the miscellaneous 
assemblage. It has been suggested that something of the 
same kind may occur in some of the Epicaridea. 
The Cymothoidz, after the exclusion of the five 
families already characterised, are still a group of embar- 
rassing size, including at least thirty genera, and about 
four times as many species. ‘l'he description of this single 
family by Schiddte and Meinert occupies a volume larger 
than the present. ‘Twenty of the genera are instituted by 
those authors. ‘To say that they give a figure and de- 
scription of every species would very inadequately express 
the scope of their labour. It must be added that the 
descriptions and figures are repeatedly double, or triple, 
and sometimes fourfold. ‘This was necessary on account 
of the differences already alluded to between the forms 
assumed by the same animal at different periods of life. 
The symmetry of the young is often exchanged in the 
adult for a more or less distorted shape due to its residence, 
these animals being found in the mouths, and on or within 
the skin, and about the fins of various fishes, in the mouths 
of squids, and in other strange situations. It does not 
seem proper to follow Schiddte and Meinert in their further 
subdivision of this family into three families, which they 
name Anilocridze, Saophride, and Cymothoide, but, what- 
ever view may be taken on such a matter of detail, their 
work will be found indispensable to a student of this group. 
Even with all the assistance it gives he will not always 
find the task of identifying his specimens too easy. Under 
the circumstances it is useless to compress into these pages 
any brief synopsis of the numerous genera, although one 
or two of them may receive a passing mention. 
Nerocila, Leach, 1818, contains more than _ thirty 
species. ‘he eyes, which are manifest in the larval and 
young forms, in the adults as a rule gradually disappear, 
this being obviously in connection with the assumption of 
a parasitic life, which led Latreille to name the genus 
Ichthyophilus, ‘a lover of fish.’ Nerocila depressa, Milne- 
26 
